Buried deep within an article by Jonathan Snowden at Bloody Elbow is the following except:

"Perception is reality. To a mainstream audience, major sports are covered by ESPN and in their local paper. They don't make big announcements on genre websites. And moves like this can damage their chances with an outlet like ESPN going forward. Sources say that officials with ESPN were furious that they weren't given this story. It would have been featured on SportsCenter, White front and center in a professional interview. Instead, we got the standard guerrilla style low budget MMA Fighting interview. Now some ESPN insiders are questioning the value of covering the UFC at all on their programming."

While the rumors may be no more true than the countless "Fedor finally coming to the UFC" reports after the collapse of Affliction, it isn't too far out of the realm of possibility.

The Strikeforce purchase dominated the mixed martial arts landscape yesterday, quickly becoming the leading story on every MMA website. The acquisition of their leading rival will forever change the shape of MMA and has far reaching implications across the board.

The story may not have led SportsCenter, but it would have undoubtedly been featured on the sports highlight show. It would have been another huge breaking news story for the always expanding network. Dana White could have been featured live in a segment broadcast to millions of people, not just some one on one internet interview.

Will this hurt the current relationship between the two companies? Probably not. Mixed martial arts is continuing to receive expanded coverage on ESPN, including MMA Live and segments on SportsCenter in the days leading up to big pay-per-view events.

But it is interesting to ponder how much bigger the spectacle of yesterday could have been had ESPN broken the story.

Lorrenta Hunt goes on to add:

About $40 million, according to Loretta Hunt of the LA Times.

That number includes debt repayment. It is important to note that this is simply a report and can not be taken as fact, as the UFC will likely never reveal the actual number.

If true, even if it's within range, it would appear Zuffa got themselves one hell of a bargain.

And in case you're wondering, when the UFC purchased PRIDE back in 2007, they reportedly did so for somewhere in the ballpark of $70 million, although an exact number was never made public.

Hunt also brings word that Zuffa allegedly made multiple offers as early as December 2010, and they were competing against two other potential buyers.

In the end though, the UFC won out, as they always seem to do.

Anyone surprised by the number? Or is it right in line with what Strikeforce is worth?

Now we know very well Dana HATES Loretta. That aside that sum of money is peanuts. Im not seeing anything about this that makes much sense

I'll laugh if ESPN stops reporting on MMA, after Dana sicing the zombies on ESPN for showing the results of UFC 120, now him choosing Areil Hawani over them. Might not lead to ESPN not covering mma but Dana certainly is starting to show a trend of bitterness towards ESPN.

But thats the wrong way to go about business. ESPN pretty much own the space their in. It would be very easy for Showtime ESPN et al to freeze the UFC out considering Dana has awful relationships with both of them.

To completely eliminate their biggest and only rival for $40mil. Bargain. SF is months away from possessing the best MMA fighter in the world and at heavyweight! Not to mention their 205, 185, 170 and 155 keeps going from strength to strength as does the standard of their womens fighting.

No more womens fights buddy. Dana's said many a time he has no interest in Womens MMA. Cant see any room for it once SF folds. Can you?

SF will fold no doubt. Just like Pride. All this seperate entity bull**** is so they can run out their contracts and not cause too much commotion. Dana said it himself in the interview, the UFC need more fights as they break more markets. Well, that means that eventually you can say goodbye to SF.

It would be nice if they kept SF on for women fighting, in the same way they kept WEC for mens lower weight classes. It was a niche market for the hardcores. No one knew who the **** WEC was.

SF will fold no doubt. Just like Pride. All this seperate entity bull**** is so they can run out their contracts and not cause too much commotion. Dana said it himself in the interview, the UFC need more fights as they break more markets. Well, that means that eventually you can say goodbye to SF.

It would be nice if they kept SF on for women fighting, in the same way they kept WEC for mens lower weight classes. It was a niche market for the hardcores. No one knew who the **** WEC was.

SF for women is a good idea. UFC can stay for the men.

Why would they keep the SF brand just for women's fights when there's only a handful of them?
As for the WEC that was folded because the UFC wanted to bolster its position and the WEC didn't make any more financial sense to operate independently.